This invention relates to a device for sealing plastic bottles, especially PET bottles.
In the case of a known device of this type (FR A 2 653 408), the delivery device, the magazine and the sealing tool operate in one and the same plane above the plane of motion of the bottles. Moreover, the placement of the sealing blank and its sealing to the prepared bottle take place while the latter remains in its position. However, this delivery process is time-consuming, because the entire process, from fetching the sealing blank to placing it on the bottle and finally sealing the latter must be completed, because fetching the next sealing blank for a subsequent delivery process can be commenced only after the sealing process has been completed.
The invention is concerned with the problem of providing a device for sealing plastic bottles, especially PET bottles, which enables the sealing plate to be supplied and sealed completely to the filling opening of a bottle within one working cycle and with an increased output.
The inventive device is designed as a compact module, which, with an advantageous short conveying distance, is placed immediately behind a filling station, and enables a sealing blank to be supplied and sealed completely to the filling opening of the bottle in a single phase. As a result of the shifting of the working plane of the delivery device towards the center plane of the bottle, which is positioned for accommodating the sealing blank, the fetching of a sealing blank and downward motion of the latter to about the height of the opening of the prepared bottle can take place independently of the sealing process, the placement operation being reduced to a short lateral motion of a support for blanks. After the placement process, the sealing of a sealing blank, which has been put in place, and the bringing along of a subsequent sealing blank can take place simultaneously, independently of one another and, so that productivity is increased as a result of the shortened cycle. If the feeding and/or sealing process is interrupted, only a single defective, filled but not yet sealed, bottle must be discarded as waste from the conveyor track, so that loss remains low.